Try Tonight
by Casey.G
Summary: "Bloody fuck off alright! Just come down to the garrison tonight and you'll see." Arthur finds a cool gal that he's super excited about but everyone takes the piss out of him. One-shot. Contains a song. Tommy/OC but super short.


**Quick one-shot of an idea I couldn't get rid of. It also makes it stupid obvious that I'm a lil bitch for Lana so enjoy ****:)**

Walking into the house, Tommy was greeted by the raucous laughter of his brothers and Arthurs booming voice desperately trying to rise above them, "I'm telling ya, she's brilliant, stop laughing about it, she's the best thing I ever heard!"

"Bloody hell, listen to this Tommy," John burst as he noticed Tommy stride through the doorway ", Sounds like Arthur's smitten!" He laughed, leaning back in his chair and swinging his glass of whisky towards Arthur, the amber liquid sloshing dangerously close to the rim of the tumbler.

Arthur, taking apparent offence to this, groans in frustration and storms towards the table john sits at, slamming his hand down and pointing into his face. In his fury, Arthurs's face screwed up and colour rose from his neck and he trembled with anger – so much so that no words could be forced out. John, leaning back from Arthurs wagging finger, continued to revel in his own mirth and looks around the room to Finn and Tommy, before bursting forth into laughter again.

A rare smile graced Tommy's face as he moved into the room, arms spread to pull Arthur back and calm the situation, "Alright, alright, explain what's happening Arthur." He says with an amused tone, reaching for the whisky bottle John had on the table.

Arthur moved back to the front of the room, running his hands back over his hair and straightening out his suit. He looked around, sure no one would interrupt him now, with Tommy leaning on the front of the table, John still chuckling into his tumbler behind him and Finn sat to the side with a wide grin.

"Right. Yeah, okay." Arthur straightened himself out again and stood tall, "There's this girl, young pretty little thing, a right beauty." At this John began to chuckle again and Tommy moved an arm behind him to motion at him to stop, though a smirk graced his face also. Arthur stumbled slightly over his words as a bashful look overtook him, "No it's not like that alright. It's her voice, Tommy right, it's her voice." Arthur leaned forward with his words, enraptured in a memory of this woman's voice, trying earnestly to make Tommy pay attention to what he was saying.

"Alright Arthur, she has a pretty voice," Tommy says; John snorts into his tumbler in response and Arthur starts towards him again. Tommy's arm swings out as he continues, "but what about it? What's so important about this pretty girl with a pretty voice eh?"

Arthur turns back to Tommy, quick to act on Tommy's interest while he still had it, despite the other brother's continuous snickers behind him. Arthur moves closer to Tommy, desperate to make his point "It's magic Tommy, and not like no gypsy magic either, it's proper magic, the kind that just makes you forget everything bad that's ever happened to you," he pauses for a moment, hands raised as he searches for an accurate way to sum up the woman's voice "- Her voice, it brings peace Tommy."

At this, Arthur steps back, a pleased smile pulling at his mouth as he nods lightly at his own words, running his hands over his hair again as a relieved breath leaves him, as though he couldn't have shared any better news with his brothers. Although John still looked about the room and chuckled into his now empty whisky glass, he found that his remaining two brothers seemed rather more interested in Arthur's words – and if the manner in which Johns own mirth trailed off, it would seem he too found stock in tale of this girl.

Tommy takes a slow drink from his refilled glass of whisky and stares thoughtfully at Arthur before pushing himself off the kitchen table and clapping Arthur on the shoulder. "So, this girl with the magic voice, what's her name Arthur?" At the question, Arthur breathes out in relieved excitement and turns hurriedly towards Tommy, who'd stood behind him, "it's Evelyn," he pauses to look back around the room, eyes ablaze with excitement, "But she prefers Evie! She's down at the Garrison now; I've hired her to sing." He looks about the room, looking somewhat downtrodden when no one leapt forward in excitement like he seemingly expected. John huffed out a chuckle and reached for the whisky bottle, while Tommy pulls out a cigarette with raised eyebrows, apparently quick to move on from any interest he had in Arthurs revelations of the girl, "Well that's just lovely Arthur, isn't it John."

The comment only spurred John on further in his mirth, "Lovely Arthur, you can run into the sunset with your magic woman." He laughs through the comment. Arthurs's face falls at the jab and he looks dejectedly around the room.

"Bloody fuck off alright! Just come down to the garrison tonight and you'll see." He moves to leave the home, pulling his cap on in his exit, caught somewhere between anger and embarrassment.

Tommy raises his eyebrows again at John as Arthur slams the door behind him, causing John to erupt into laughter and spill a majority of his whisky on the floor.

By the time night had fallen, a chill had settled over small heath. The falling of the sun dragging in a fog that settled over the cobbled streets, as a bitter wind began to whistle down the lanes. By this point John had already drank himself into a staggering mess and Arthur had never returned home from earlier. Tommy however, had been quite stuck on this mystery girl that Arthur seemed so mystified by. While he would likely have headed to the Garrison tonight anyway, he found himself watching the clock and counting down until when it'd be appropriate to leave.

Tommy doubted she was truly some magical being come to soothe their problems with a sweet voice, but something about the way in which Arthur spoke of her, something about the breathlessness of his words and the calmed glint in his eye told Tommy there must be something more to her. Something he was eager to see for himself, regardless of Johns continued jokes about her throughout the day.

As the time ticked by, Tommy grew more and more restless, pacing about the house unable to settle on any one task for long, too preoccupied with thoughts of Evie and her magical voice. Finally, he swigged down the last of his whisky and, slamming the glass against the table, Tommy rose from his seat, "right then, are you coming." He gestured impatiently to John who started in confusion before leaping up also in a clumsy staggering state and following Tommy out the door as they each slung their coats and hats on.

Stepping onto the grubby streets of Small Heath, the brothers pulled their coats tighter around themselves against the chill of the night and set off towards the Garrison. The fog that had settled along the ground seemed to hum with energy as they neared the pub and the lights emitting from the building seemed to stretch further down the street and cast warmth to everything they touched. Only as they neared the pub did they notice the thrum of voices that echoed down the street, rising and falling in unison as the docile tones of the patrons became clear.

Pushing open the doors to the Garrison was like stepping into an entirely different world. The usually rowdy collection of men sat calmly and relaxed at the tables, some even along the floor as they nursed their drinks and looked towards the ends of the bar with gentle eyes and easy smiles, swaying to the tune of the songs, lulled into complete peace. Even Arthur stood leaning across the bar, staring earnestly towards the end at a young and beautiful woman who sat perched on the bar, legs dangling before her and arms braced beside her. She sat straight and proper, but sang in an easy and relaxed manner, coaxing her audience into a tranquil state.

The brothers paused in the doorway, immediately feeling as though they'd punctured the lull of the room in opening the door, but as soon as it swings closed behind them it was as though nothing had changed as this odd other world retuned to its bubble in Small heath. John's toothpick hung dangerously in his open mouth as he swayed lightly in place – partly form his drunken state and partly from the entrancing voice of this woman.

Tommy never moved, even as John headed to the bar to join Arthur, He stayed just as he was, lost in the melodies of this woman's voice, enraptured in the elegant yet effortless flow of her song. Suddenly, he could understand all of Arthur's excitement, all of his rambling, everything he had said was true. Listening to Evie was like waking up on a sunny morning and watching the sunlight come streaming through the windows to greet you like an old friend after a harsh and unforgiving winter. She was like a light in darkness, a salvation amongst war.

He hadn't even realised her song was coming to a close, not until the room erupted into cheers and calls for more. He was so enraptured with her voice it was as though the cheers were muted and everything around him was blurred save for the girl sitting on the bar, dipping her head down bashfully against the chorus of approval. She raised a dainty hand above her head and the crowd silenced at the simple gesture, "One more. Just one more; and a slow one to finish."

A gentle murmuring filled the room at her words and Tommy found her voice just as entrancing and smooth as her singing. She chuckled slightly, as though she'd already said this many times in the night, and pulled herself up higher and began a new and softer melody to her previous.

"_Can't put my finger on it, but I know I want it,  
I'm willing to try another way, that is if I get by another day,"_

As she began, Tommy could feel the tensions unravelling from his shoulders and it felt as though the room breathed a collective sigh of relief, people sinking lower and lower into their seats in their serene states. The lights in the room glowed brighter with each note and the men hummed gently under their breath as soothing warmth over took the room.

Against his own meaning, Tommy had moved forward in the crowd as her voice swelled through the song,

_"Cliché's find a home inside of him,  
when he enters all of the light go dim,"_

He was so lost in the serenity of her voice, in the calming lull of it, that he hadn't resisted as he moved along the bar, past both John and Arthur, who themselves where to enraptured to notice his movement.

_"He's so sure he's got a tragic lifestyle,  
and I'm so sure I can make that man smile,"_

By this point, Tommy was close enough to reach out and capture her hair in his fingers, the only people who'd circled as close as him where the young lads who were sat around her feet, staring up In a youthful wonder that reflected on even the oldest and most hardened faces in the room.

Her eyes were closed gently against her own melodies, losing herself in the song and the delicate atmosphere of the room,

_"And I'll try tonight, just try tonight,  
a darkroom in the night time,  
is how he spends all his time,"_

Tommy was sure he'd never felt so at peace in his life. Not since before the war, and not in any of his opium hazes or drunken stupors since. And he was sure; now that he'd found her, he'd never survive a day without her voice filling the air. And just as he reached out towards her, the final notes of her song rang through the air,

_"He'll try tonight,  
To not get high,  
he'll try tonight,  
to not get high,  
but he will,  
he will,  
he will,  
yes,  
he will."_


End file.
